Termination of Parental Rights

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WI Court of Appeals – District IV

Case Name: Dane County Department of Human Services v. C.N.

Case No.: 2016AP1472; 2016AP1473

Officials: Blanchard, J .

Focus: Termination of Parental Rights

C.N. appeals circuit court orders terminating her parental rights to J.N. and J.G. Regarding the grounds phase, C.N. does not dispute the ground of continuing children in need of protection or services (CHIPS) as to each child, but argues that the circuit court erred in issuing orders terminating C.N.’s rights to both children on the ground of failure to assume parental responsibility. Regarding the dispositional phase, C.N. argues that the court erroneously exercised its discretion in concluding that the termination of C.N.’s parental rights was in the children’s best interests.

The parties agree that an apparent clerical error resulted in the orders erroneously reflecting that C.N.’s rights were terminated on the ground of failure to assume parental responsibility.2 This leaves the challenge to the dispositional result. On this issue, I agree with the County and the guardian ad litem that the circuit court reasonably exercised its discretion in terminating C.N.’s parental rights in the children’s best interests.

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.